Bears quietly confident about this season’s defense
CHICAGO — In a lot of ways, the Bears’ signing of Robert Quinn in free agency was the kind of move the franchise made when Lovie Smith was head coach.
A team with a good defense, a very good defense, pouring in more resources to the pass rush than any other position this offseason, the kind of move that ensures a strength remains a strength.
The Bears were constantly reinvesting in their defense under Smith and some parallels can be made to the 2010 offseason when the Bears bucked up to sign Julius Peppers, transforming a defensive front that was already strong. Peppers didn’t score touchdowns and the Bears were coming off a season when they were 19th in scoring, 23rd in total offense and 29th in rushing. Some at Halas Hall were pulling for a major investment on offense — perhaps the offensive line — but defense ruled the day.
The Bears wound up reaching the NFC Championship game that season. So if the 2020 season, set to kick off Sept. 13 at Detroit, follows a similar path, that would be a tremendous development for a franchise that hasn’t won a playoff game since Jan. 16, 2011.
This isn’t to compare Quinn to Peppers because the former is a very good pass rusher with 80 ½ career sacks and the latter is a future Hall of Famer. But the $30 million guarantee to Quinn is particularly interesting because coach Matt Nagy is an offensive guy and, as inconsistent as the Bears were offensively in 2009, they were worse in 2019.
It’s not that the offense was ignored, but general manager Ryan Pace’s priciest offseason move was adding Quinn as the Bears hope to amplify a pass rush that is led by Khalil Mack and should get a boost from a healthy Akiem Hicks as well.
Quinn is unlikely to chart the course for this season. If the Bears are to return to the success they enjoyed in the 2018 regular season during Nagy’s first year, they’re going to have to be significantly better on offense. Nagy and Pace are both banking on much better quarterback play and odds are both — former No. 2 overall pick Mitch Trubisky and trade acquisition Nick Foles — wind up starting at some point. It’s a stretch to believe either one is the long-term solution at the position.
While the focus has been on whether necessary moves have been made to resuscitate the offense, and rightly so, the Bears are quietly confident they can be much better on defense than a year ago. Coordinator Chuck Pagano is entering his second season and remember he brought nearly all new position coaches with him. So, the staff knows the personnel better and the players know the scheme better.
The powers that be at Halas Hall believe the Bears would have gone to Los Angeles and defeated the Rams in the divisional round of the playoffs had Cody Parkey’s kick gone in. That would have landed them in the NFC Championship game with a Super Bowl-ready defense. If the defense can take some natural steps of progression in Year 2 with Pagano and Quinn’s pairing with Mack can make the pass rush nasty once again, the Bears can be a force in the
NFC.
If the defense returns to dominance, and it wasn’t at that level consistently a year ago, will Nagy make adjustments? Will the offensive-minded coach who has a swagger about how he operates be willing to play to the strength of the roster? And that means being more conservative as a play caller. That means committing to a running game and sticking with it. That means a punt isn’t necessarily a bad play.
They’re fascinating questions and ones to consider as the Bears wrap up a most unusual training camp and preseason — minus the preseason games. If the Bears are going to be a challenger this season, it will be because the defense is again one of the elites in the league. Yes, the offense will have to take a big jump forward too from the dregs of the league, but this team is going to be powered by the defense.
That’s just the way it was when Smith was around and the team was in contention a little more regularly.